It's all about the resurrection!
Dear LTCC Family,
There is a pretty good chance that when you were younger, most people (even if they were not Christians) would say they believed in the resurrection of Christ. Many at least attended church on Christmas and Easter, but now we might speak to the world as in 1 Cor. 15:12-20:
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
In the movie “Remember the Titans,” one player asks another: “What kind of power do we have?” If you ask believers, the answer is “Resurrection Power!” We at LTCC are not just mechanically doing things. It could feel that way because we have a process and plans, but we are asking for wisdom from the Lord as in James 1:5 and seeking to love and glorify God. We are not “doing” in our own power. God says in Zech. 4:6 “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” What we are asking God to do in our midst is to glorify and witness to Himself. We pray that believers would grow here and that together we are used by Him to bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
So what is going on this Easter week and in the near future at LTCC? Our mission here at LTCC is: “Loving God by helping people follow Jesus.” We can only do this with the Resurrection Power of Jesus. We have analyzed where we’ve been, where we are, and where we should go. We’ve adopted that new mission. We’ve hired Matt Moench to oversee Family ministry, particularly Intentional Discipleship. We’ve trained new elder candidates. We are deciding on many recommendations about how we will operate as a church. We are pursuing a vision for what our ministries would need to be doing in order to perfectly live out our mission of loving God by helping people follow Jesus, especially through the first year or two of our next pastor’s ministry. We also plan to put in place some “preventive maintenance” where we interview church family, analyze the state of the church, recommend changes and cast vision every 5 years. This is all to glorify God – loving Him by helping people follow Jesus. How?
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. [Romans 8:11]
This weekend we have Good Friday and Easter Sunday services. We will also open the Affirmation Voting for the Elder Candidates. We will provide instructions about voting for men on the basis of biblical qualification. There will be recommendations about changes to the By-Laws and Constitution provided this weekend. You have 2 weeks to prayerfully examine them to be ready for a discussion only (no vote at this meeting) to take place at the members meeting on April 14. We hope to finalize these in May. By that time the Elders and Council hope to have some visionary ideas to present to you as well. After that, it will be time to start the pastoral search.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. [Phil. 3:20-21]
For the Deacons and Elders,
Pastor Bob